Chants of the Vatican Graduale - MusicaSacra

The Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ 403
THE MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD OF OUR
LORD JESUS CHRIST
(July 1)
This feast was first prescribed for the universal Church in 1849,
and its present date determined by Pius X. Formerly it was commemorated
on Passion Sunday.
INTROIT (Apoc. 5:9, 10)
1. Redemisti nos, Domine, in 1. Thou hast redeemed us, 0'
sanguine tuo, ex omni tribu, et Lord, in thy blood, out of every
lingua, et natione: 2. et fecisti nos tribe, and tongue, and people, and
Deo nostro regnum. Ps. Miseri- nation, 2. and hast made us to our
cordias Domini in aeternum can- kingdom. Ps. The mercies of the
tdbo: * in generationem et genera- Lord I will sing forever: * I will
tionem annuntiabo veritatem tuam show forth thy truth with my mouth
in ore meo. to generation and generation.
This, as the Apocalypse indicates, is the song of the saints in heaven,
the song that continues to resound for all eternity. And only an eternity
will suffice to render gratitude for our redemption through the Blood
of Christ, for our gracious vocation to be members of the kingdom of
Christ. This song has celebrated the advent of every human soul into
the midst of the saints, and has been re-echoed by such out of every
tribe, tongue, people, and nation as have attained the heavenly Jerusalem.
Ineffective and feeble though our chant and our gratitude on
earth may be, it is consoling to know that this selfsame song is rendered
with the fullest perfection by the saints in heaven. Our goal should
be to strive for the ideal of this choir of heavenly singers; to become as
faithful and persevering subjects of the heavenly king as they are.
The beginning of the melody recalls that of the Introit Cognovi
which is sung on the feast of a Holy Woman neither Virgin nor Martyr,
and in the old manuscripts is assigned to the feast of St. Sabina (August
29). The beginning of the Introit of May 12 also bears some similarity to
the present melody. In each case the word Domine marks the high point,
and today especially emphasizes the fact that God alone through the
shedding of His precious Blood effected our deliverance from sin and
death. The only and somewhat soft b\? is found over tuo. The classical
age of choral composition would, without any further ado, have sung
here the closing cadence of the fourth psalm tone: a b g e. Nevertheless,
the combination with 6 b is already found in the Introit of SS. Peter and